We are very pleased to welcome Sarah Fahmy (Strategic Content Alliance) and Alastair Dunning (JISC) to the RunCoCo workshop in Leeds on November 3rd 2010. Sarah and Alastair will be leading an interactive session on Sustainability for Digital Content. This is how they describe their session:

Sustainability for Digital Content

Sustainability is a loaded word. From social and economic to environmental, sustainability has continued to mean vastly different things to different people. In the context of this presentation, we consider the meaning of sustainability within the context of generating or gaining access to the resources-financial or otherwise-needed to protect and increase the value of the digital content or service for those who use it.

Within this, a key question that we would seek to address would be: ‘What means can project leaders employ to support the resources they have developed, beyond grant funding?’

In attempting to answer this question, the presentation shall deliver an overview of ground-breaking research in these areas and how some of the core findings and recommendations can be built into the digital strategy of public sector organisations of all sizes to ensure sustainable services long into the future.

* New or innovative JISC work covered in the presentation*

As organisational budgets tighten and economic uncertainty threatens, many digital projects struggle to develop coping strategies when the funding to support core operations and/or essential development is not forthcoming. Groundbreaking research (as highlighted in this presentation) being undertaken by Ithaka S + R on behalf of the StrategicContent Alliance:

• Gives project leaders ‘real-world’, international examples/ case studies- how support has been delivered to the digital services, beyond grant funding.
• Highlights ‘5 steps to Sustainability’- defines ways in which the ‘most successful’ sustainable projects have undertaken to address this issue
• Gives examples of how project leaders can manage the inherent tension between providing free access, and generating the revenue needed to support ongoing operations and work this into their organisation’s digital strategy

Brief biographical details

Sarah Fahmy works within the Innovation Group at JISC and manages the Strategic Content Alliance initiative. She oversees and supports a variety of projects and studies and participates in various
collaborative activities, the aim of which is to work on behalf of the public sector holistically to reduce the technical, political and administrative barriers that impede access to digital content. Sarah previously worked on a Becta-funded programme to collectively license a range of commercial resources enabling schools across the UK to benefit from large discounts through joint purchase. Prior to that, she worked at the Tate Gallery and HarperCollins publishers in the licensing of collections and content.

Alastair Dunning is  Programme Manager, Digitisation (JISC). From his staff page:

“As a programme manager I am responsible for projects funded under the JISC’s e-Content programme. This strand of work deals with the creation and delivery of digital resources, such as the British Library’s Archival Sound Recordings³ or the East London Theatre Archive⁴ for use in research, teaching and learning.

The role of programme manager entails a good few responsibilities, but mainly involves overseeing the direction of JISC programmes as a whole, assisting and advising projects during their lifetime, ensuring that the projects are completed on time and within cost, and managing the overall budget for the programme. More broadly, my role also involves providing strategic direction to the JISC’s strategy for digital content in Higher Education.”  (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/contactus/staff/alastairdunning.aspx )